WRITTEN QUESTION No. 3022/98 by Florus WIJSENBEEK to the Commission. Public footpaths
Date: 1998-10-08
Institutions: European Parliament, WIJSENBEEK
Subjects: EU aid, Structural Funds, cartography, country road, private property, public property, rural tourism, tourist infrastructure













EUR-Lex - 91998E3022 - EN






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91998E3022

WRITTEN QUESTION No. 3022/98 by Florus WIJSENBEEK to the Commission. Public footpaths  


Official Journal C 297 , 15/10/1999 P. 0044 





WRITTEN QUESTION E-3022/98by Florus Wijsenbeek (ELDR) to the Commission(8 October 1998)Subject: Public footpathsIs the Commission aware that a number of walking routes have been created in the European Union which are identified by the letters G.R.?Is the Commission aware, furthermore, that these footpaths are an important way of promoting rural tourism?Will the Commission help to ensure that paths leading from one Member State to another are marked more clearly than they are at present?Will the Commission also take measures to ensure the production of a publication indicating the routes of long-distance footpaths and how they link up with other pedestrian infrastructure, similar to that which exists for cyclepaths?Will the Commission seek the creation of a legal status for public footpaths crossing public and private land?If so, how?If not, why not?Answer by Mr Papoutsis on behalf of the Commission(3 December 1998)The Commission is aware of the existence of walking routes for ramblers signposted with the initials "G.R.", signifying "Grande Randonnée - ramblers' route". The Commission is, however, not aware of any studies on the impact of such footpaths on the development of rural tourism.The Commission does not have a legal basis for regulating how these paths are marked, how they link up between Member States, nor to ensure the publication of maps of these long-distance footpaths. These issues are the responsibility of the various organisations which lay, equip, signpost and maintain these paths in the Member States. The Commission also has no legal basis for seeking legal status for public footpaths crossing public and private land. This issue, which particularly concerns rights of property, access and use, is the responsibility of the Member States, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity.However, in the framework of Rural Development Programmes operating in certain areas of the Community, it may happen that structural funds are used to co-finance operations related to footpaths created by Member States' authorities and marked "GR". Such co-financed projects are most common in tourist areas focused particularly on nature and adventure tourism, which provide lookout posts for observing wild life, or studying biotopes, etc. When these footpaths cross private land, Member States take prior action so they remain open to the general public. As regards publishing maps of these long-distance footpaths, co-financing is also possible in the framework of these same programmes, when it is felt such information material will contribute to promoting tourism as a way to maximise the pay-back from investments and local economic potential.Lastly, in certain geographic areas, these paths may even be linked to others in non-Community areas, as is the case between Austria and Hungary or between Germany and Poland.